How to Find Your Passion in 1 Hour or Less

"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, its the size of the fight in the dog."  - Mark Twain

1. Write out your strengths and weaknesses

Take a piece of paper and write down occasions where you feel strong and when you feel weak. These can have happened when you were at work, with your kids, in your house, out and about. Write down all the times you felt strong and times when you felt weak inside.

Example:

Strengths: When I was teaching my daughter math. When I was cooking my family dinner. When I completed the 2009 budget. When I learned a song on the guitar.
Weaknesses: When I forgot my keys. When I lost my temper with my children. When I was working on a new project and I felt unprepared. When I had to give a presentation in front of a small group.

2. Focus in on your strengths

Say your son comes home with his report card. He has an A in Biology and a D in English. What do you focus on? English, right? And you do this because you want to improve on the weakness. He’s already doing great in Biology, why bother? You want to fix the weakness.

What you need to do is focus on the strength. Why is he doing so well in Biology? What about it does he love? Is it the teacher? Is it the material? Is the format of the class? We want to know what about that class really clicks with your kid. And when we know that, that’s when we have the power.

So pick one of your strengths. Pick the one that really affected you. I want to you really boil it down. What about the experience did you really like? Say you chose “I felt strong when I taught my daughter a math concept and she understood.”

So you like to teach. Do you like teaching everyone? Would you want to teach physics? Do you want to teach groups of kids? Or is it teaching one child? Or teaching something you know? Really get down to the nitty gritty. Figure out what made you feel excited about your strength.

In there lies what energizes you. This is what gives you power.

3. Use that Strength

If you have figured out that you love to learn new activities or you love public speaking to small groups then we need to figure out how that can be used in your current job or new job. Break down your strength into smaller terms so you can use it every day.

If you love public speaking to small groups then start by finding occasions where you can present what you’re working on. Create workshops. Teach new employees. Start a website. Do online seminars. There are a million ways to use that strength and you just have to be on the lookout for those situations.

4. Weakness Is Gone

Do this same process with your weakness. When did you feel most weak? This has to be something you did not something done to you. Was it when you were late because you slept in? Was it when you had to confront someone? Was it when you had to mingle at a party?

Figure out what it is that depletes you. What is it that you’re doing that’s wearing you out? In the example of confrontation, why is it that it depletes you. Figure out exactly what part weakens you.

Now, there are going to be people who are amazing at what you suck at. Search those people out. They can be the ying to your yang. Make them do what you hate. And conversely, offer your talent. You never know when you can be someone’s savior.

http://getanewjob.wordpress.com/2009/05/10/how-to-find-your-passion-in-1-hour-or-less/
http://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/docs/RoverDecember2009.pdf

_____________________________

Enough is Enough offers a number of support groups, including Domestic Violence Support Group, Vicarious Trauma Support Group, Road Trauma Support Group, Alcohol and Other Drugs Support Group.
For further details about the services please call us on 02 9542 4029 or Register your interest online.

_____________________________

Alcohol & Other Drugs - A Journey of Recovery

Alcohol and Drug issues are in constant view through media and news stories, with these come a lot of miscommunication and misconception about the issues of Alcohol and Drug use.

These issues underlie and create our most important problems as a society. Crime, road trauma, domestic violence, mental health, family/relationships – these issues are complex and often not easily understood by those affected.

Alcohol and drug use can increase and decrease at different times in people’s lives depending on what happens in life – there can be long term or short term alcohol and drug problems and these can be equally problematic. There may be little or no awareness or understanding about underlying or ongoing issues. Often these issues are intertwined with other life problems.

Often people faced with these problems do not know where to get help or what options are available; some services have their limits of availability, or only work in specific areas.

At Enough is Enough we have developed a holistic program to liaise and network with health services in the area (Sutherland Shire). We offer an initial assessment to clients which includes a counselling program, referral to other medical/social services if and when needed and ‘relapse prevention’ support. These are based on the initial client assessment.

We work individually with each client for the best outcome, using different counselling modalities, psycho-education, harm minimisation and/or abstinence strategies. We offer counselling, psychotherapy and psychology within our program.

If you are concerned about your level of alcohol or drug use and would like an assessment or information about Alcohol and drugs or about our program please don’t hesitate to contact our counselling service. We offer a confidential, professional, non judgmental service and our counselling fee is kept to a minimum so that it is available to all members of the community.
Deborah Rollings
Community Development Officer and Cousellor

_____________________________

If you are interesting in finding out more about Enough is Enough and our service please call 02 9542 4029 or contact P.O. Box 799, Sutherland, 1499

or email: counselling@enoughisenough.org.au

_____________________________

How the hell am I ever going to stop!!!?

For years I asked myself that question and every morning I would wake up, out of my alcohol and drug induced sleep and say to myself……“Today I will not drink or take drugs”. Within minutes I was taking some form of substance to get me going and I just did not stop, because I couldn’t!
How did I end up like that, I don’t know, but it was horrible and I never ever want to go back there.

Let me tell you a bit about me, what happened to me and where I am at today (sounds a bit like a self-help group meeting doesn’t it, well read on).
I did not drink until I was 18 years old and used to drink at a hotel in West Sydney, NSW. I remember my first schooner as if it was yesterday, bloody beautiful, cold, wet and best of all it made me tingle and feel different. After a couple I did not have a care in the world and I quickly worked out that the more I drank the less it mattered what was going on around me…………….from there the journey began.
I joined a major bank and drank my way through a 20 year career, finally drinking and taking drugs my way out of that career, at management level. “How did that happen, how could I become a BANK MANAGER, but lose that job because of my addiction? What do I do next?”
I started a lawn mowing business as it allowed me time to feed my habit, lots of grass available, ha ha, I even told people I was dealing heavily in grass! But when the grass don’t grow no money comes in and I landed a night shift job packing yoghurt, not bad eh from a Bank Manger to a factory worker (nothing against factory workers) but all my skills I had acquired over the years had been removed by my addiction.

One Saturday night I asked my wife a question and she answered me with a no!!!! I went psycho and punched 4 holes in the kitchen wall, thank God it was not my wife’s head and she called the police and I was taken away. I was suicidal and rang a counselling group who suggested I may have an alcohol and drug problem (as if I did not know that) and I should get help. “Where the hell do I get that?” I said, as I wanted it right then and there not in a week’s time. It was suggested I commit to a safe plan and go to the counselling group the next day. That did not happen. I went to my doctor and he referred me to a hospital in West Sydney. I was assessed and it was suggested I go to detox…”What the hell is that?” I said, as I had no idea. They gave me a few names of Detoxification Centres. “No way” I said, “I am not going there as they’re for bad alcoholics and addicts, not for me”. Then they uttered the magic words of two psychiatric facilities in West Sydney. “Hallelujah” I said, “when can I go?” as I was that insane I knew what the Hospital was and wanted to go there because I was crazy, not for anything to do with my addictions.

I will never, ever forget the feeling of absolute fear that was in me when I stood at the door, waiting to enter and be admitted. I thought I would never come out and that I would be strapped to the bed and drip fed for the rest of my life. Absolutely insane, I entered and was greeted by an admissions nurse who asked me such questions as: Have you seen spiders crawl up the wall? Who is the Prime Minister? And others I cannot recall.
Why is she asking me these stupid questions I thought. Today I know why, she was measuring the degree of damage I had done to myself! We are starting to get to where my story differs from the run of the mill who do detox and go to self-help groups or whatever and here is why.
I attended the compulsory group sessions (great idea otherwise I would not have gone) and compulsory self-help group meetings. It was during that time I worked out that I was not alone in the world and there were other people just like me who wanted to stop, but could not. I started to go to a self-help group because I liked it and I found it good for me, but I also was coming to the Detox 3 or 4 times a week for meetings and started to talk to the patients.  If an alcoholic or addict is forced to stop by family, friends, courts or whatever, they will not until they have had enough and want to do it for themselves.

What am I doing today?
I am a Logistics Manager for a large Pharmaceutical Company. I have a manageable debt, have restored my relationship with my wife and children. I have two loving grandchildren and I live a wonderful, wonderful life, a life far removed from the pathetic existence of the addict, lying, cheating and scamming on a daily basis just to survive.
Today I do not survive, I live a life beyond my wildest dreams and all the fears from back at day one in detox at the Psychiatric Hospital are long gone. There is no fear today, only a sense of hope that life can only get better on this 10th year of my journey of life.
Anonymous
http://www.positivestories.org.au/index2.html#
IF YOU HAVE PARTICULAR CONCERNS REGARDING YOUR OWN DRINKING OR DRUG USE & ITS EFFECTS ON YOU OR YOUR FAMILY, CALL US TODAY FOR INITIAL ASSESSMENT 02 9542 4029.  Please download Alcohol and Other Drugs Individually Planned Programs Brochure. (PDF 770 Kb)